Prosecutors: Ex-Ill. Gov. Ryan visited ill wife

By MICHAEL TARM, Associated Press
| 8:22 a.m.Jan. 7, 2011

FILE - In this Sept. 28, 2005 file photo, former Illinois Gov. George Ryan, left, arrives with his wife Lura Lynn, center, and attorney Dan Webb at the Dirksen Federal Building in Chicago for the first day of opening arguments in his racketeering trial. On Friday, Jan. 7, 2011, federal prosecutors say Ryan has already had a visit with his ailing wife and so they oppose a motion to let him out of jail on bail. The federal filing says the Bureau of Prisons granted Ryan an escorted trip to the Kankakee hospital Wednesday evening where his wife is being treated. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)
— AP

FILE - In this Sept. 28, 2005 file photo, former Illinois Gov. George Ryan, left, arrives with his wife Lura Lynn, center, and attorney Dan Webb at the Dirksen Federal Building in Chicago for the first day of opening arguments in his racketeering trial. On Friday, Jan. 7, 2011, federal prosecutors say Ryan has already had a visit with his ailing wife and so they oppose a motion to let him out of jail on bail. The federal filing says the Bureau of Prisons granted Ryan an escorted trip to the Kankakee hospital Wednesday evening where his wife is being treated. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)
/ AP

CHICAGO 
Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan was quietly let out of prison this week and spent two hours visiting his gravely ill wife, federal prosecutors revealed in a court filing on Friday.

The federal filing, in which prosecutors opposed a motion to let Ryan out on bail, said the Bureau of Prisons granted the former governor an escorted trip Wednesday evening to the Kankakee, Ill., hospital where his wife Lura Lynn Ryan is being treated for cancer.

A motion filed by Ryan's lawyers on Wednesday had asked that he be released on bail, saying his wife of 55 years is suffering from terminal cancer. The former governor has served three years of a 6 1/2-year sentence for racketeering, conspiracy, tax fraud and making false statements to the FBI.

The prosecutors' filing said it did not dispute that Lura Lynn Ryan is gravely ill. But it cited George Ryan's visit on Wednesday as one of reasons that appellate judges should not release him on bond.

"Although the serious medical problems suffered by his wife are truly unfortunate, they do not warrant special treatment with respect to bail pending appeal in the context of post-conviction proceedings," the filing says.

The seriousness of Lura Lynn Ryan's illness led the U.S. Bureau of Prisons to escort the former governor to the hospital in Kankakee, about 130 miles and a nearly three-hour drive north of the Indiana facility where Ryan is serving his sentence.

"There ... Ryan visited with his wife for approximately two hours between approximately 7:30 and 9:40 p.m," the filing said.

While Ryan himself was not visible, more than a dozen relatives of the Ryan family were seen gathered at an intensive care waiting room at the Riverside Medical Center Wednesday night, around the time that prosecutors said Ryan was at the hospital.

The mood was somber, and those gathered spoke in hushed voices. There were three security personnel stationed just inside the ICU doors, but no confirmation they were accompanying George Ryan. No security was seen at the same location on Thursday night.

One of Ryan's attorneys, former Gov. James Thompson, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Lura Lynn Ryan's family had been called to her side that morning. When asked later that evening about whether Ryan been released, Thomson said he had no information that Ryan had been. Thompson even joked that he would be angry if Ryan was out and "hadn't immediately pulled over and called me."

Thompson did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment Friday on the government's filing and on his client's temporary release on Wednesday.

But in a new defense filing later Friday, Ryan attorneys blasted prosecutors for their decision to disclose that Ryan visited his wife.

"This is shabby behavior," the strongly wording filing said.

Revealing the visit, it said, violated federal nondisclosure policies. It also says prosecutors are using the visit "as a weapon to deny Ryan's request for bail."

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office, Randall Samborn, didn't immediately return a message seeking comment on the issue.

Thompson told Chicago's WGN-TV that, while they were grateful for even the brief visit, there were strict restrictions.

"They would not allow him to talk to his children or grandchildren and they took him right back to the penitentiary," Thompson said.

Some attorneys not connected to the case criticized defense lawyers for not revealing that Ryan had seen his wife.

"I almost never sympathize with prosecutors," said Chicago defense attorney Gal Pissetzky. "But I was taken back because the way it was portrayed . . . that poor Ryan was the victim - not allowed to see his dying wife. The way (the defense) presented the case was misleading."

Others said authorities had acted properly.

David Morrison, deputy director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform based in Chicago, had opposed any extended release of Ryan. But he said he was fine with the several-hour hospital visit on Wednesday.

"He should be treated along with any other prisoner that has a sick relative. That seems to be what happened here," Morrison said.

Experts say the prisons bureau typically allows inmates to visit a person on their deathbed or attend their funeral - but not both.

Just last month, U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer - the presiding judge in Ryan's corruption trial - upheld his conviction and denied his request for bond. Pallmeyer acknowledged his wife's plight, but said Ryan's "conduct has exacted a stiff penalty, not only for himself but also for his family."

That ruling came nearly a month after Ryan's attorneys argued that parts of his 2006 conviction should be tossed based on a U.S. Supreme Court decision curtailing anti-fraud laws - known as "honest services" laws.

The judge ruled that while the Supreme Court case was relevant, Ryan's circumstances were different enough that his conviction should stand.